There was a very familiar face at Augusta National Golf Club on Monday — the face of a man who played a part in three Masters victories.
That would be caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, who spent 25 years on the bag of Phil Mickelson, helping to guide Lefty to three green jackets before the pair parted company in 2017 and Bones moved on to a television gig with NBC and the network’s golf coverage.
This week, it appears, Mackay will be on the bag of 2016 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker.
RELATED: Why do caddies wear white jumpsuits at the Masters?
It’s not the first time Mackay has come back to looping since starting his TV job. Shoot — it isn’t even the first time this year.
When the PGA Tour season restarted in June, Mackay took the bag of England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick in back-to-back weeks for both the Workday Charity and the Memorial at Muirfield Village. Fitzpatrick’s regular bagman — Billy Foster — was still at home in Europe.
The partnership proved to be fruitful for both parties. Fitzpatrick finished T27 at Workday and was alone in third at the Memorial.
A couple weeks later, Bones caddied Justin Thomas to victory in the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, filling in for Jimmy Johnson and also worked the PGA Championship, where Thomas finished T37.
Bones previously caddied for Walker in the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Walker missed the cut there.
Walker, a six-time PGA Tour winner, enters this week as the No. 407-ranked player in the world. He’s missed the cut in four out of five starts in the 2020-21 season.